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Hearing Aid Positioning System And Structure

a positioning system and hearing aid technology, applied in the field of hearing aids, can solve the problems of uneven anatomical shapes and achieve the effect of improving the anatomical shape of different users' ears

Active Publication Date: 2012-03-29
INTRICON CORP
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  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

"The present invention is a hearing aid that is designed to be secured in the user's ear canal. The hearing aid has flexible filaments that are attached to the shell and interact with the ear anatomy to hold the hearing aid in place. The filaments also help to bias the hearing aid towards the ear canal and support its weight. This design allows for a comfortable and open position for the hearing aid in the ear canal."

Problems solved by technology

Part of the difficulty in designing hearing aids is that the anatomical shapes of different users' ears are not uniform.

Method used

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  • Hearing Aid Positioning System And Structure
  • Hearing Aid Positioning System And Structure
  • Hearing Aid Positioning System And Structure

Examples

Experimental program
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first embodiment

[0022]FIGS. 1 and 2 show the present invention. A hearing aid 10 includes a hearing aid housing 12 and a positioning structure 14. The housing 12 includes one end 16 which projects into the ear canal 18 and another side 20 which faces out of the ear canal 18. As depicted, the housing 12 is in the shape of the APT hearing aid available from IntriCon Corporation of Arden Hills, Minn., but other shapes of housings could alternatively be used. The housing 12 includes a shell 22 and a battery door 24, and in this embodiment the battery door 24 is on the outwardly facing side 20 of the hearing aid 10. The battery door 24 hinges open and closed, and in this embodiment includes a projecting fingernail tab 26 for the user to more easily manipulate the battery door 24 between open and closed positions. A microphone port opening 28 is provided on the outwardly facing side 20 of the shell 22. A sound exit port 30 (shown in FIG. 10) is provided on the inwardly projecting end 16. A wax guard (not...

second embodiment

[0036]a hearing aid 58 in accordance with the present invention, again showing the preferred shape of the APT hearing aid shell 22, is shown in FIGS. 3-12. In this embodiment, both the horseshoe stop 42 and the biasing structure 44 are combined into a single D-ring filament 60. The D-ring filament 60 includes a cavum conchae portion 62 and a cimba conchae portion 64, with the cimba conchae portion 64 in use extending into the crevice above the user's radix helices 66 (shown in FIG. 2). The D-ring 60 connects to the hearing aid housing 12 with an upper depth setting bend 68. Similar to one of the functions of the horseshoe stop 42, the upper depth setting bend 68 provides a stop which the user intuitively uses to determine how far to insert the hearing aid housing 12 into the ear canal 18. The cavum conchae portion 62 provides the primary biasing force to keep the hearing aid 58 seated in the user's ear canal 18 with the upper depth setting bend 68 in contact with the skin just above...

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Abstract

A hearing aid includes a relatively rigid shell which holds hearing aid electronics and one or more flexible, shape-retaining filaments attached to the hearing aid shell. The filament(s) extend(s) out a proximal side of the hearing aid shell having a shape which interacts with the user's ear anatomy such as the conchae bowl. The shape determines an insertion depth of the hearing aid shell into the user's ear canal, and a spring action biases the hearing aid toward the desired insertion depth. The hearing aid supported by the filament(s) provides an open, unoccluding position in the ear canal.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)[0001]The present application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 61 / 386,953, filed Sep. 27, 2010 and of U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 61 / 472,179, filed Apr. 5, 2011. The present application claims also claims priority to U.S. patent application Ser No. 12 / 895,012 filed Sep. 30, 2010. The contents of U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 61 / 386,953, U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 61 / 472,179 and U.S. patent application Ser No. 12 / 895,012 are hereby incorporated by reference in entirety.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]The present invention relates to hearing aids. In particular, the present invention pertains to systems and structures for correctly and consistently locating hearing aids relative to the ear anatomy of a user.[0003]Hearing aids on the market today are available in different mounting configurations. Many hearing aids include a behind-the-ear (“BTE”) portion which,...

Claims

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Application Information

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Patent Type & Authority Applications(United States)
IPC IPC(8): H04R25/00H04R31/00
CPCH04R25/65Y10T29/49572H04R25/60H04R2225/63H04R2225/0213G06K7/10554G06K7/10722G06K7/109G06K7/1096H04R25/02
Inventor FRETZ, ROBERT J.DAAVETTILA, JEAN ELVIRACONGER, CHRISTOPHER DRAKEMAKO, VINCENT JOSEPH
Owner INTRICON CORP